So here they are:

Thailand Part 2: Journey to the North Click me for the facebook link

Chillin’ in Laos Click me for the link

We swap stories from South America and other parts of the world, while giving each other advice and tips on future locales from our own experiences. The drive goes quickly and before I know it we’ve stopped and are walking up a dirt road, a 3.5hr hike to the first hill tribe.

Our main guide, Sack, stops periodically as we walk, pointing out different plants that the locals use, be it spices, fruits or medicines. Naturally he offers us samples which of course we all try, usually to our taste buds delight!

The first few hours are a long climb up the low Laos mountains through the sticky rice and hops fields, all of us appreciating the fact that the fields are farmed by hand as the terrain is too steep for machinery and with an average income of $50 per month far too costly anyways for most.

Arriving at the first village, one of the Hmong Tribes, we’re greeted with pigs, chickens, ducks, goats and cows milling about. The hard reddish-brown soil covers everything and nearly matches the color of the bamboo houses, the dusty brown of the village a stark contrast to the lush green jungle and blue sky of its surroundings.

Little children smile and hide behind buildings peeking out to giggle at us with each other as we sit down for lunch. Only a few adults are around as most are out working their rice fields, the kids left to look after themselves.

The four of us scarf down our delicious meal of sticky rice with side dishes of mixed vegetables and various meats using only our hands and then satisfied, sit back and relax, taking in the village, imagining the life these locals live. It’s definitely a hard one.

Next we hike 10 mins over the hill to a larger forty-family Khmu Tribe village that has some subtle differences in their building design. Our guide explains that even though they live so close together they have a completely different dialect that only our other guide understands. A group of young boys follows us out of the village for a while as they take some cows to feed, smiling and laughing. Zdednek, the other guy in our group, teaches them “Good”, “No good” and “Maybe” with thumbs up and down gestures. We all laugh and the kids love it, being pretty good too by the time we wave goodbye to them further along the trail.

The rest of the day we trek through small trails in the dense jungle, periodically stopping for a rest, leeches taking advantage of our pause to swarm our shoes trying to climb up to our exposed legs for a quick meal. It was like a B-rated horror film as we all keep checking our shoes, desperately flicking off the little blood suckers slowly inching up. But hey, it’s all part of the Laos experience hahah

Arriving at the village we’re staying in for the night before the most of the adults get back from working the fields, Brie, my travel buddy for a week here in Laos, and I go for a walk. We head towards the sounds of splashing and laughter to find a group of little kids playing in a small creek. Overcoming their initial shyness they start jumping, doing flips and cartwheeling into the river, performing for us. We laugh with them at their antics and then continue checking out the rest of the 35 family village.

As the evening sets in the adults all start coming home, splashes of color added to the brown of the village by a few of their surprisingly vibrant clothes. Some of the younger men play a game like volleyball with a softball size bamboo wicker ball, using only their feet and head, a few of their acrobatic kicks truly awesome.

We eat another meal that’s similar to our lunch and then about fifteen of the younger kids are brought to come sing for us. Initially it’s a pretty lame tourist thing they do but then the kids actually get curious and we all start playing games like rock, paper, scissors and such so it turns fun and was actually pretty interesting.

We teach them some english words and they make us attempt their words, laughing at our feeble attempts. Then the shots of the local Lao-whiskey start…and continue…and continue. We spend the rest of the night chatting with the guides, finally heading to our bamboo shack when 2 liters of their 100-proof whiskey has made us all very drunk.

We’re woken up in the morning by the village roosters’ continuous salute to the sun right outside our hut along with ducks and pigs quacking and snorting away. It may sound nice and cute…but trust me, its not the greatest at 6am after a night of Lao-whiskey hahaha

We head off after a quick breakfast, each taking about an hour to fully wake up. It’s a good five hour hike to where we get picked up. Another day hiking of striking scenery, beautiful weather and passing by the locals tirelessly working in their fields.

As we all climb into the back of the truck, I take a moment to reflect on how different our lives are in western countries, and yet still, we’re all so completely the same.

I was traveling with Nerissa, and having someone to share the experiences with was awesome. Basically we traveled to Jogjakarta (temples), Mount Bromo (active volcano!), Gili Meno (paradise island) and Ubud (artisan capital of Bali).

I can’t believe it’s over already and I’m back on my own again here in Singapore.  I think I’m going to spend the next couple weeks in Northern Thailand since I missed it last time I was there and then head into Laos for a few weeks after to meet some friends there. After that…who knows…my plans change every day anyways hahah

Hope you enjoy the photos from Indonesia!

Indonesia Click me for the facebook link

Here in Malaysia I basically just spent two weeks on Borneo. I did have 1 day in Kota Bharu and 1 day in Kuala Lumpur but those don’t really count. The two main things I wanted to go to Borneo for was to see monkeys in the wild and climb Mount Kinabalu, which is the tallest mountain in SE Asia at 4095m.  I did both and made some great friends along the way. Check out my two friend’s blog, Paul and Klara, that I met there for their hilarious accounts of it! I was also attacked by a monkey on an island off Kota Kinabalu that some friends and I visited. Thankfully a girlish scream and hitting it with a bag containing shoes kept it from closing the last few inches to sinking it’s fang-like teeth into my leg hahah

Malaysia’s quite expensive compared to all the other SE Asia countries I’ve been to and drinking here is almost the same price as back home in Canada (due to the insane amount they tax alcohol), but all in all a pretty good time! Check out the photos below:

Malaysia Click me for the facebook link

Headed down to Malaysia for a few days next before returning to Thailand (15day visa running out when i thought i had 30days…stupid rule change this year) but should be great as I’ve heard the food in Malaysia is amazing and I might be hitting up some of the islands in the north which are supposed to be spectacular!  Anyway, enjoy the pics!

	Cambodia Click me for the facebook link Click me for the non-facebook link
	Thailand Click me for the facebook link Click me for the non-facebook link

- You can go up to any person anywhere and say “Hey where ya from?” and it’s an instant conversation starter! Trying to perform a mind meld (http://www.physorg.com/news199424641.html) before introducing yourself as previously suggested should not be attempted unless you’re actually a Vulcan.

- When a hostel is $3 per night, do not expect the luxuries of a $4 per night hostel.

- Fear of malaria back home is highly overrated. For most cities on the tourist track it’s not an issue!

- Going on a trip soon? Need malaria pills? Don’t have health benifits? I sell to you, cheap cheap! (I’m serious…i have a crapload I will need to get rid of!)

- If your a teenage boy in Saigon at the local rollerskating rink, you’re only cool if you’re skating in sync with at least two other teenage boys…all holding hands…always going backward…at full speed. Facing forward skating is only for silly Canadian tourists that don’t know how to skate properly.

- People in Cambodia wear full face helmets while on mopeds (with brand names like “Lucky”), however their passengers do not get helmets. People in Vietnam always make sure all passengers have a helmet (except children under the age of 6). However it is a very thin (and sometimes hot pink!) piece of plastic that covers only the top of your head. I’m pretty sure it would do more harm than good in an impact as it shatters and creates more fragmentation lol

- The Temples of Angkor do not have wifi

- The Temples of Angkor are absolutely amazing otherwise

- In Phenom Penh the ratio of tuk-tuk and moto drivers to tourists is at least 2:1. The path to true will power and patience is by playing the fun game of always smiling and saying, “No thank-you!” every time you’re asked if want a ride (and it’s always for a special price of course). You are asked every 10 feet traveled by foot and every 50 feet while on one of the tuk-tuks or motos!

- As we consciously control our bodies and thus all the atoms and sub-atomic particles that we’re made of, then that makes us their god! Yes my minions of carbon atoms…I demand more sacrifices of virgin quarks…or face my wrath of eating McDonalds!!

- For some actually interesting quantum mechanics trivia: When the LHC achieves full operation, the energy of the protons will be about 360 mega-joules, equivalent to the energy of an aircraft carrier moving through the ocean at a speed of 20 knots. And all that energy is concentrated in a beam that’s thinner than a frail bit of thread.

- 1lb of frozen yogurt (6 different flavours, loaded with 8 different toppings and for only $3.50!) is never a good idea. It’s a GREAT one hahah

- After kicking out geckos falling into one’s bed (for refusing to be little spoon), they will climb to a corner of the wall and proceed to make screaching noises randomly throughout the night. Oh to know the hurt heart of a rejected reptiles misplaced love!

…the things we learn while traveling!

As with most southeast asian countries, it’s packed full of mopeds. Hardly anyone has cars and that’s a good thing because if they turned all the moped into cars there would be gridlocked traffic everywhere at every time!

It’s sidewalks are usually crowded with these parked 100-125cc bikes, so often you walk on the road. Traffic rules don’t really exist, and I’ve ridden on xe oms (motorbike taxis) where more time is spent in the oncoming traffic lane than in the right one (makes for quite a ride!).  It’s all part of the thrill of taking these taxis. That and with 18 deaths/day in Saigon from accidents, well…you just sort of hope you have a good driver hahaha

There are no giant stores like we have back home. Strip malls with Foot Lockers and Future Shops don’t exist.  Instead, small 4x10m stores and restaurants line the sidewalks of  it’s city streets, it’s proprietors usually living in the floors above it.  Each store has a specialty and the specialties are usually grouped together along certain roads. Looking for lighting fixture? Head to the lighting fixture street! Want to add some decals to your moto? Head over there to the moto decal alley! It’s fascinating and such a stark contrast to our cities back home.

Its natural wonders aren’t as majestic as other parts of the world, but still have their own charm. Ha Long Bay with its thousands of limestone karsts and isles provides a beautiful backdrop of relaxation after exploring the MASSIVE Thien Cun cave, while Hoi An’s giant beach is a great place to relax (although prepare for old ladies to constantly try and sell you stuff and if you’re lucky have your chest stroked by an old toothless man if you’re hairy!) while waiting for A Dong Silk to finish your custom suits.

Making any sort of real money here is only possible if you are an owner of a business. If you are an employee, your wage is about $100-120/month (working 10hrs/day, 6days/week).  A shared single room in a larger house in Saigon takes over half of that, and the rest is spent on moto petrol and food. It’s interesting in the larger cities knowing people have the bare essentials and then you see a Bentley or Audi R8 drive by, the juxtaposition of affluence and poverty creating a most interesting scene. I can’t think of a single working employee Vietnamese I met that had actually been outside of Vietnam, as there’s just no way to actually save the money to do so.

Because of this, buying anything in the stores, or taking a moto taxi anywhere requires you to always start the haggling by dividing the listed price by 3 and never going over half the asking.  Even then, when it’s still certainly favourable to the local, they will make you feel like you’re ripping them off for not paying their massive markup as you’re a foreigner with (relatively) lots of money. You can’t really fault them for this hahah…but it is still annoying to constantly have to haggle for everything every time.

City nights in Vietnam are my favourite time. When evening comes the locals flock to the sidewalk and parks, setting up their small plastic chairs and tables, drinking their iced teas and coffees while eating from one of the many women frying up an assortment of meat and strange vegetables on their small coal fired bbq’s. It’s a nice scene to watch as the older Vietnamese are chatting and catching up with each other, while young couples in love hug and kiss atop their mopeds beside the park.

So although Vietnam hasn’t been my favourite country I’ve been to so far, it has certainly been fun. It’s provided me with an interesting perspective of a country that was war-torn for so many years and struggles to reboot it’s economy and global presence under its conservative communist regime.

Here’s a Vietnamese proverb I’ve seen that sums up this country’s philosophy quite well:

Duc toc bat dot

Go slowly and steadily and you will eventually achieve what you desire.

Here are some pictures from the volunteering and a few other random ones around Saigon.

Enjoy!

Vietnam Click me for the facebook link Click me for the non-facebook link

Saigon is actually a really cool city, very diverse with a pretty wide spectrum of poor to very wealthy.  I’m looking forward to spending the time to get to know the city!

I’ll have some thoughts on Vietnam so far at some point this coming week but until then here are the pictures from Hanoi to Saigon and everything in between!

Enjoy =D

Vietnam Click me for the facebook link Click me for the non-facebook link

Enjoy =D

Vietnam Click me for the facebook link Click me for the non-facebook link